Romantic Delusions
by syncretic
Summary: Title stolen from my friend Loi with begrudging permission. Fluffycute Squall slash Selphie stuff written for another friend's Secret Santa Christmas present. Figured this was as good a place as any to whore it out. Minimal on the Rinoa bashing too.


**1.**

It really didn't take much to make the Commander of Balamb Garden uneasy, Selphie reflected as she took a large, exceptionally sharp clever from the kitchen's cutting block. It was a large kitchen, with an island in the middle, surrounded on all sides by hanging cupboards and stainless steel counter tops that sat atop drawers and even more cupboards full of the normal kitchen implements, only on a grander scale. The purpose of the room was industrial - they had to feed hundreds of students every day after all. Now it was empty, the dinner dishes taken care of, and the students and staff gone off to do... whatever it was that they did after dinner. "It's really easy," she said, turning and pointing at him with the tip of the knife. She noticed with mild amusement that he jumped back a couple inches.

He eyed the knife warily. "I... don't know," he said finally. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"Don't be stupid. It's a _brilliant_ idea! When Rinoa gets back from Esthar, she's going to _love_ it," she said reaching out to slap him on the arm with her free hand. "And you can't back out now, so too bad. Remember, _you_ came to _me_." Whatever had possessed him to do that, she wasn't sure, but right now was not the time to wonder about that. It was time to take advantage of the situation.

She turned towards the overly bright silver counter top and, humming to herself, starting cutting up a large steak into cubes. She told Squall, in a brisk, cheerful voice, to get down a large bowl from the cupboards over the opposite counter. He was taller _and_ he needed something to do other than stand around, watch her, and fidget. He sighed and did as he was told and she grinned to herself, heaping the uncooked chunks of meet into the bowl by the handful. She started digging around for spices, and found some pepper and onion powder and olive oil and a few other assorted spices. She added a generous amount of oil to the bowl, and then started adding spices, enough to make the Commander raise an eyebrow. "It'll be good," she assured him and put the cap back on the bottle of oil. "Just trust me. We'll let that sit for an hour or two in the refrigerator and when we come back, we can cook it."

"Where did you learn how to cook anyway?" he asked her as she bounced over to the refrigerator with the bowl.

"Hm?" She shrugged and let the door slide shut again. "Trabia had a couple cooking classes, but this one... Irvine taught me." She smirked. The idea of the cowboy cooking anything was amusing, but she supposed he could get away with it just this once - it was steak after all. Very manly. Just replace the Stetson with the chef's hat and the duster with an apron.

Yup, manly indeed. Ha.

Squall picked up the knife she'd used to chop up the meat, in an obvious attempt to make sure she didn't get her hot little hands on it again, and gave her one of his steady, blank stares. "Irvine?"

Selphie grinned and nodded, deftly stepping in and snatching the knife out of his hands. She sauntered over to the sink and dropped it in. "Yup. Irvine. He makes the _best_ chocolate mousse ever. I mean it. It's _to die for_."

As expected, Squall rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said and she snickered.

**2.**

Selphie eyed the table critically. It was small and round and set up in a private room in the cafeteria. Normally, the room was reserved for faculty who wanted to eat without the disturbance that was the mere presence of students. Now the lights had been dimmed and the table laid out with the nicest silverware and china Selphie could scrounge up. It hadn't taken much - the girl was persistent. The dark red tablecloth had been stolen from the headmasters room and the crystal wine glasses were the ones used almost exclusively for the SeeD balls. She'd _borrowed_ them from the kitchen.

Well, everything looked like it was all in perfectly in place. She turned back to the doorway were Squall stood. "Well," she said. "That looks good. Now... roses are traditional, but you know Rinoa better than I do, I think, so..."

His shoulders dropped and an annoyed frown appeared on his face. "I don't know," he muttered. "It's not like we've ever had a chance to _talk_ about that sort of thing. We were a little busy."

Selphie nodded thoughtfully. They'd all been a "little busy." Saving the world didn't exactly leave a whole lot of time to talk about hearts and flowers and futures and all that romantic stuff. Also, Selphie knew Squall to be allergic to that sort of thing. She smirked. "So. Roses then."

"Well, you're a girl. What kind of flowers would you like?"

"Sunflowers Squall," she said, rolling her eyes. "But not all girls do. Does Rinny _really_ strike you as a sunflower-kinda-girl? We're not all cast from the same mold you know."

He appeared to consider that. "I... guess not..."

"Then you want roses," she told him briskly. "Can't go wrong with roses, especially red ones. Now go on, get." She shooed him from the room. "There's really nothing else to do right now that can't wait until tonight. Go down to town and get the flowers before I thundaga your ass. Shoo!"

He shooed.

**3.**

"A _month_!" Selphie stared, gaping at Zell who could only shrug in reply. They were standing just outside the library, next to the fountain that surrounded the elevator. Zell sat down heavily on one of the benches that were placed in pairs all around the edge of the fountain.

"That's what she said," he grumbled. "She said she's got to stay in Esthar for at least a month, if not more. It's those Sorceress powers, see? Guess Odine figures he can get rid of them."

She wrinkled her nose. "That's the _stupidest_ thing I've ever heard," she snapped. "She was supposed to be back tonight! Does Squall know?" Guess that cancelled dinner – and she'd worked so _hard_ on it too.

"Yeah. At least, he grunted. I think that means he heard Headmaster Cid when he told us. It's not really her fault, though. You know what Esthar's like when it comes to Sorceresses." Zell shrugged again and leaned back, spreading his arms across the back of the seat.

"Yeah, I know." Selphie's shoulder's slumped.

"Kinda surprised Squall isn't half way to Esthar now."

"He isn't?" she asked, perking a bit, her eyes narrowing and her lips turning down in a confused frown. "That _is_ a little strange." She thought for a bit, and then decided the risk of Squall's Angsty Wrath was worth satisfying her curiosity over. "I'll see you around Zell. I've, uh, got things to do..." Without waiting for a reply, she turned on her heel and sprinted off down the hall.

She found her quarry in the Quad. He was leaning over the railing in the balcony, his arms half draped over the stone and half wrapped around his middle. "So..." she said, bouncing up to him.

He barely glanced up at her. "So?"

"I was just coming to see how you were," she said innocently.

He grunted. "I'm fine."

"Really, because you look it."

That got a side long almost, _almost_ smirk out of him before he turned back to staring out over the Balamb plane without seeing much of anything. His expression was blank, the perfect poker face. "Just thinking."

She nodded sagely. "Ah, well see, that I can see. You do that a lot. Must have something to do with all the cura spells you seem to go through. A lot of people don't think I can relate, but I can. Really."

"Really," he echoed, still not looking at her. "I believe it."

"I mean – " She blinked suddenly, caught off guard. She tripped standing still and had to grab onto the railing before tipping all the way overboard. "Er, you do?"

"You're a master of camouflage."

"No, that's Irvine," she corrected him. "I blow things up."

_That_ time he smirked. It wasn't a _smile_ but as far as Selphie was concerned, a smirk was a small, yet very important victory. His mood probably wasn't going to get any better, so it was best to just dive in. "So, uh, I heard about Rinoa..."

"Oh," he said blankly. "That."

"Yeah, that. Um... how come you're still here?"

He shrugged and leaned down so his chin rested on the backs of his hands, which he folded over the top of the railing. "I... don't know," he said after a long pause. "I guess I belong here and it's not like... she'll never leave Esthar. She will, just not for awhile."

"Mm." She turned around so she could lean back against the railing with her elbows protruding over the side. "So here you sit in your pretty tower. A prince waiting for his sorceress..."

"I'm not waiting," he said almost immediately. "And she doesn't expect me to. It might be only a month or it might be longer. At this point, we don't know. She said, and I quote – "

"Wait, you actually talked to her?"

"Of course I did. She told me about ten minutes before Cid did. That's what those new phone lines we installed are for."

"Anyway, I can sit here waiting for her and end up doing nothing for years, or I can just... not worry about it. You only live once." He stood up straight again and stretched.

"Are those your words or hers?" Selphie asked suspiciously.

"Hers."

"Ah."

"But they make sense."

"Of course they do." She patted him on the arm. "Don't worry about it then. I'll take care of the dinner stuff."

He blinked and gave her a quizzical glance. "Why not just use it?"

"Use what?"

"Well... you went to all the trouble of making the food and setting the table and... Well, it's there. Why not just use it?"

She wasn't entirely sure what to make of that, so she shied away slightly. "Who are you and what've you done with Squall?"

He snorted. "Why let good food go to waste?"

"Ah, that makes more sense," she said, relaxing. "Practical, Commander, very practical. All right, let's _not_ let good food go to waste. Last one to the kitchen's a rotten ruby dragon egg!" And she took off running, not even bothered in the slightest when he didn't actually race her. It would have been scary if he had, really.

**4.**

Dinner smelled absolutely wonderful. When they'd finally gotten the steak, salad, and veggies, all together and brought up to the little room that had been reserved for a private, romantic evening for someone else, Selphie's stomach was growling loudly. She nudged the door open with her hips because her hands busy trying to balance a wide plate of steak. She peeked inside and saw that there were candles on the table now, two tall red ones, and they were lit. The lights were low again and, on the plate closest to the door was a fresh bundle of, "Sunflowers?" She blinked at them stupidly for a long moment, almost dropping the plate.

In fact, she would have dropped it if Squall hadn't been right behind her to catch it. "I thought you said you liked sunflowers."

"Uh, I do, but I thought I told you to get roses."

"I didn't get roses," he said, taking the plate from her and setting it on the side of the table. "Sometimes I get really crazy and think for myself."

She smiled suddenly, her face heating up and turning a bright shade of cherry apple red. "They're very... nice," she said quietly, walking over and picking them up, poking at the leaves as if she didn't believe they were real. "You're getting good at this romantic stuff."

He gave her a smile then. Not a smirk, but an easy, relaxed little smile. It was a hundred times better than any silly flowers. "I had a good teacher."


End file.
